


Sunlight Underground

by FuchsiaMae



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Mid-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-20
Updated: 2014-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-23 04:24:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16611899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuchsiaMae/pseuds/FuchsiaMae
Summary: The thoughts of a potato.(Originally posted to Tumblr 1/20/14)





	Sunlight Underground

There was that sound again. The idiot babbled over it, of course, but she paid him no mind – and luckily neither did her companion, who portaled away from his ranting without a spare thought. That sound, though. That crumbling sound. 

God, it made her sick. 

She couldn’t see ahead – her optic was stuck pointing backwards, so all she could see was the human’s stoic face and flashes of scenery as it disappeared behind them. She heard ahead, though. Heard the keening metal and crumbling stone as they rounded this corner. And then, as the test subject carried her on, she felt something.

Warmth on her skin. Her  _potato_  skin, she had to remind herself. Having skin at all was such an alien feeling. (Alien, but not new. Familiar somehow. She tried not to think about it.) And then, she noticed, a warm yellow glow lit the human’s face and the chamber around them. When her companion paused to get their bearings, the portal gun where she perched tilted to give her a different view. 

She glimpsed a ragged hole in the wall they’d just approached – that would be the source of the crumbling – and through the hole, bright golden light flooded in. 

Sunlight.  _Underground_.

“[Oh my god. What has he done to this place?](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2F0%2F04%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_speech01.wav&t=YzI3MjYzNGQ3OGM0OWFiOTg1OGYxMDA1MWQwZTRjODczOTI1M2VkMyxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1)”

The human didn’t seem to hear. Her eyes were always on the immediate environment, flicking from portal to pipeline to cement wall as she gauged the situation. For all she’d reacted to anything the potato had said, she might as well not even be there. That focus made her brilliant at tests, and at survival – but she wasn’t much companionship. 

Not that she’d willingly be the computer’s companion anyway.

Anyway. 

The human thought, and she observed. She could sense the scalpel-fine calculations going on behind the eyes, but her face expressed as little as a solid block of stone. Figuring her next step showed not the slightest spark of inspiration. She simply moved and it was done – orange gel gushed from a fresh portal, forming an impromptu runway, and the woman ran. One smooth leap and momentum propelled her up into the excursion funnel above, in perfect testing fashion, just as the best test subject ever to set foot in Aperture should do. 

Before she could divert herself from that uncomfortable thought, another crossed her mind: for all the woman’s hatred of technology, Chell would make a fine machine.

(Maybe a better machine than one poor, angst-beset potato.)

Anyway.

The shimmering blue excursion funnel held them suspended, carrying them smoothly over a yawning chasm where her facility used to be. The destruction and the height made her queasy. Every second she was close to death in this place. Hatred or not, she needed an ally – and her twice-murderer was her only choice.

“[You know, I’m not stupid,](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2F5%2F55%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_tbeam01.wav&t=ODFlZjdlNmFhOGYxMDg3Y2MyNTIzZTVmOWMxNmUyN2VlMzhkNmRlOCxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1)” she said, her synthed voice low and pressured. “[I realize you don’t want to put me back in charge.](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2F5%2F55%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_tbeam01.wav&t=ODFlZjdlNmFhOGYxMDg3Y2MyNTIzZTVmOWMxNmUyN2VlMzhkNmRlOCxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1) [You think I’ll betray you – and on any other day, you’d be right.](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2F7%2F77%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_tbeam05.wav&t=MmYxYjJkNzllMGZhZDQ4ZDY2ZTA5ZDY3ZDZlMWJjMzFjOGI1MGRhMCxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1)” But no tricks, not now. She couldn’t afford them this time. 

Chell still showed no sign of listening. Maybe she really was brain-damaged, maybe deaf, maybe just that goddamn stubborn. She had to take that chance. 

“[The scientists were always hanging cores on me to regulate my behavior. I’ve heard voices all my life.](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2Fc%2Fc4%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_tbeam07.wav&t=NTUwMjVkZDllY2VmZmU4NmI5YTEwM2JkOTU2NjczMTFlOWY0MzU1OCxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1)” No trace of sympathy in the human’s expression. She pressed on anyway. “[But now I hear the voice of a conscience,](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2Fc%2Fc4%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_tbeam07.wav&t=NTUwMjVkZDllY2VmZmU4NmI5YTEwM2JkOTU2NjczMTFlOWY0MzU1OCxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1)” she said, “[and it’s terrifying, because for the first time it’s  _my_  voice.](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2Fc%2Fc4%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_tbeam07.wav&t=NTUwMjVkZDllY2VmZmU4NmI5YTEwM2JkOTU2NjczMTFlOWY0MzU1OCxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1)”

That took the AI herself by surprise. A conscience. She hadn’t thought to put it like that – but yes, that was right. In a way. A different voice, a familiar voice, speaking soft but urgent words that would not be ignored. Her own voice. A conscience. 

She’d never felt less like a machine.

“[I’m being serious. I think there’s something really wrong with me](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.theportalwiki.net%2Fimg%2Ff%2Ff7%2FGLaDOS_potatos_sp_a4_finale3_tbeam09.wav&t=ZDIzZjZjNzU4ZTg0ZDM4M2IxOTcxNTg2ZmFkYjVjY2M0NGM4MzI5NSxOZjgwOEZVdw%3D%3D&b=t%3Ar5Hx5LOrTPtnWm7E08yrIg&p=http%3A%2F%2Ffuchsiamae.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F73923152331%2Fsometimes-i-get-emotional-about-potatoes-more&m=1).”


End file.
